User blog:Ouroburos.TheNewSaurian/JEDPL Topics: 4Bastards
What's going on, fellow slaves to the Animapredictview machine!? I am the Extreme Conqueror and leader of this wiki, Ouroburos, who is here today on Sunday to provide you all a new blog regarding one particular topic that's been infamous for quite a while. Hoo, boy, I know a majority of you people are gonna be screaming until you develop throat cancer! Like I mentioned in my previous blog that revolved around Sentai Filmworks' English dub of Medaka Box, I am taking a break from creating anything major until later on next month. That still doesn't stop me in any way whenever it all comes down to these blogs. But for right now, I'm better off getting down to the nitty-gritty by introducing what I'll be discussing about today. I apologize for not making this yesterday; there might've been a few roadblocks here and there that were to blame. So, about today's subject..... {sighs} You folks ready? Motherf***ing 4Kids Entertainment, everybody!! Opinion If you all must know, even though you're probably fully well-aware at this point, 4Kids Entertainment (now known under the title of 4Licensing Corporation) is a licensing company based in America that was notorious for their English dubs of various Japanese anime and, occasionally, they even made series of their own. Without a doubt, two of their most popular licenses had to be Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh!, both of which also being multi-billion dollar franchises. I bet many of you, such as myself, grew up watching the living shit out of them; oooooh, the past! Good times... Gooood times. Those were the days where we used to be young and innocent. {ahem} 4Kids did this for nearly a total of twenty-one years, so you would think that the team was comprised of many professionals; this was all true. That is, to say, they were professionals when it came to bowlderization. The company wasn't the only one at the time who would utilize this practice, for certain studios whenever they got their hands on anything in Japan would alter stuff either in a subtle or blatantly excessive manner, be it character names, personalities, music, or any other content deemed inappropriate. This would be ingenious if they, I dunno, preserved the spirit of the original versions! Alfred R. Kahn, former CEO and chairman of 4Kids Entertainment, was very controversial himself. For instance, "Kids today don't read, they read less today." One compound word is needed here: bullshit. I'm wondering if he actually even thought about what he said there. For the love of Pete, I'm tired of assholes like him who assume that children are more concerned with the Internet and the television itself rather than literature. Some can elaborate a little more on this, but just... Just why? Thank God he retired in 2011... Going back to the second paragraph, 4Kids was, once again, reviled for how bad they change the content that was ever present in the anime they licensed; Eichiro Oda's One Piece is a GRAND example. Sanji with an incomprehensible accent and a lollipop, are you f***ing kidding me!?!? Water guns?! The company's members must've been adult children, and I'm putting it as blunt as possible. How about Sonic X? I know the anime isn't particularly enjoyed by the general consensus (although I think there ARE the rare supporters), but its English version is... Well, it's like combining your dog's own feces with a statue of Vanilla Ice! On top of severe editing and shorter episode lengths, what especially makes Sonic X's dub egregious is the sudden change in the voice cast, which happened once MORE in 2010. Sonic the Hedgehog's fanbase must be atrocious.... Good God! If there's perhaps one thing I can positively say about 4Kids, then it would be that their dubs were memorable. Yeah, they're mostly hack jobs and are an insult to fans of anime everywhere, but when we were little, we'd watch the likes of Shaman King, Tokyo Mew Mew (Mew Mew Power according to 4Kids), and Pokemon to no end, without questioning. Arguably, over time, people grew older, wiser, and overall not-so-ignorant, being able to point out the flaws. The company could also DO some suprisingly dark shows, if their 2003 version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is anything to go by; that was closer to the comic books. Anyhoo, I could keep going on and on, but I think I've made my point here about 4Kids. They are the ABSOLUTE masters of Americanization, and the effort showed. These days, thankfully, English dubs of recent anime have gotten more faithful dialogue without much alterations, if any at all. FUNimation has been noted for producing dubs that are of high quality and, as for Nelvana, I still think they need to start hiring better voice actors, but they have been a bit more lenient nowadays than their time with Cardcaptor Sakura and the original Beyblade franchise. "Screw the rules, I have green hair!" 18:03, August 25, 2013 (UTC) Ouroburos the Extreme Conqueror Category:Blog posts